Oliver WhiteIt would appear that Felipe Massa has caught the silly injury bug from Juan Pablo Montoya as well as a proper bug which will require him to rest prior to the British Grand Prix next weekend. Over the French Grand Prix weekend last week, it became known that Massa was carrying a small injury to his neck, and now the poor chap has the flu. Still, at least the Brazilian driver managed a win at Magny Cours and tested well on Tuesday at Silverstone.
Felipe’s neck injury was apparently suffered while in a lift, or elevator if you’re from anywhere other than the UK. Apparently he felt something in the lift car but this is all we know. I’m not a neck expert I’m afraid, but I do know how annoying it is to be unable to move your head very much. I can only imagine how the seemingly small injury affected the Ferrari driver in France.
It was a stupid thing. I was in the elevator, had a moment and felt my neck. I was not even driving. It was a little bit strange, and I had a lot of pain yesterday in the [Friday Practice] sessions. This morning was a little bit [painful] but getting better and better. Tomorrow should be okay. Felipe Massa, speaking at Magny Cours last Saturday.
Massa received some treatment though and has said his neck has recovered completely, but now the poor chap has influenza. Massa caught the bug just before testing started on Tuesday and was scheduled to do the running on Wednesday. Team mate Kimi Raikkonen took over on Thursday and Massa was ordered to rest.
I picked up a cold bug and had to do two days of testing with some sort of influenza and now I am completely tired. I need to relax and concentrate on the next race. Felipe Massa.
Felipe added that he should be fine for the race and is no doubt stocking up on chicken soup and Lemsip as I type.
Hope this doesn’t get Felipe down too much – not that it seems to have stopped him so far 😉
he tested on wednesday too.
we heard a rumour that tuesday’s afternoon testing for ferrari was delayed due to the poor guy falling asleep during the lunch break and not waking up in time.
That was an example of my bad English. Massa was scheduled and did drive on Wednesday and that was what I was meant to imply.
In case readers weren’t aware, Sidepodcast were present at Sliverstone, getting in on the action and as exclusively revealed on BlogF1, Massa likes to sleep over lunch. A few years ago, perhaps even in his Sauber days, I read in F1Racing that Kimi Raikkonen regularly sleeps between sessions at a grand prix. Must be a continental-European/Italian-Ferrari siesta thing.
Thanks for commenting, Sidey!
@Ali: Drivers occasionally get colds and bugs during the season, despite their super-fitness. I remember last year Heidfeld raced with a cold and I have a vague memory of Heinz-Harald Frentzen requiring oxygen in between old-skool qualifying runs one year due to illness. They’re almost as dedicated at racing as you and I are at blogging! 😛
Edit: And I just realised the opening sentence wasn’t explained in the post: Juan Pablo Montoya famously missed out on two races in 2005 because (and this is the official reason) he injured his shoulder while playing tennis. The other possible reason given was that Montoya injured himself while riding a motorbike. JPM returned before he was really ready and paddock insiders said that when he was relaxing away from the car, Juan Pablo rarely moved his affected arm. Silly boy…
[…] Chicken Soup & A Neck Brace For Felipe Massa: Felipe Massa injures himself. In a lift. While sneezing. No joke. […]
[…] driver has carried an illness into a race before; last year Felipe Massa had trouble with his neck following a sneezing incident in an elevator. Tags: Ear Infection, Fernando Alonso, Illness, Malaysian Grand Prix, […]